Wednesday, 8 June 2011

German finance minister: real risk of the first full-blown bankruptcy inside the eurozone

The never ending saga of the euro continues:

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble believes Greek bankruptcy is imminent, according to a leaked letter, and argues that restructuring of the country's debt is necessary."We are standing before the real risk of the first full-blown bankruptcy inside the eurozone," Schaeuble said in a letter addressed to European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet and leaked to the German press.In the starkest language yet by a European official, the German minister called for additional aid to be made available to Greece, adding that private banks should participate in the cost of the Greek rescue. EU officials and member states are understood to be currently working on a second bail-out agreement for Greece, in addition to the €110 billion pledged last year, with estimates suggesting the new aid package could total €60 billion.

Even the bill for the hundreds - if not thousands - of euro crisis meetings attended by ministers, eurocrats and other people, must by now have risen to tens of millions. On can only wonder, how long this madness, costing billions of EU taxpayers money, can go on?